Place des Vosges
| This lovely old square
is unusual for Paris in that its houses are faced with red brick. Henri
IV started building it in 1605; it was finished in 1612 and hasn’t
changed much since, though over the last few years it has been
thoroughly cleaned and restored. It was the first Paris square to have
all its buildings in the same style. Sheltering galleries overhang the
fronts of the ground floor shops. The main building, La Maison du Roi,
was intended for Henri IV himself, but he was killed before he could
move in. The statue in the middle, among the children’s playgrounds and
shady walks, is of Louis XIII. Until 1800 the name of the Square was Place Royale, but in that year it was renamed in honour of the Vosges, the first part of France to pay taxes to the new Government. |
